Monday, 17 January 2011

Bambi's Mum

I've been thinking for a while how a lot of kids movies often have a vegetarian theme, encouraging an empathy with animals, and I think this may stem from the fact that many children have a natural love of animals and children's film makers know they will want to see films with animals in. I know the animals are generally anthromorphised but none the less, the ideas of animals as thinking, feeling creatures not unlike ourselves is considered in a lot of films, notably by Disney but also others:

1. ANTI FARMING

The first film that comes to mind is Babe. This film really tugged at my heartstrings as it points out that even the most cosy farmyard setting (which we are taught as young children to find exciting and fun, through farmyard toys and songs) hides the horrors of death, pain, and suffering, never mind the hideousness of factory farming, and the fate poor Babe's mum is sent to :(. This film turned the actor who plays the farmer into a vegan after it opened his eyes to what animal farming is really like, and of course, how loving an intelligent animals can be (not just cats and dogs but pigs too!). Pigs really are just as, if not more intelligent than dogs, and if domesticated they are just as sweet and loving pets, yet people happily chow down on pork and bacon even with the knowledge that a little sweetie like Babe had to be slaughtered to make it :(

Then there's chicken run, another farm setting, another lot of animals trying to escape the chop. You will see on the side bar how many chickens have died since you opened this page, and I think you will be shocked by the figure. Poor chickens are the most persecuted creature on our planet.

I haven't seen it... I might cry if I do, as I know the basic story, but here's another pig destined to be a porkchop and the idea that he might be worth saving. This film caused Dakota Fanning who starred in it to stop eating pork and bacon.

2. ANTI HUNTING

Who could forget that poignant moment in Bambi where his mum is brutally shot by hunters so that they can get some glory and perhaps skin her and chow down on her flesh. Deers are so beautiful and graceful, and to destroy them must take a very hard, cold, heart, but people still happily eat away at venison.

Thank goodness fox hunting is now banned in the UK... like deer, foxes are one of the most beautiful creatures of British wildlife and having them torn apart by a pack of dogs is a vile and disgusting practice that we should be ashamed of. The Fox and the Hound had a clear anti hunting message, as well as being a wonderful film.

3. ANTI FISHING

Moving on from my previous post about the fishing industry, Finding Nemo features several scenes which show how harmful man's interference with our seas can be. Sadly, it's unlikely that the fish are just going to start swimming against the net and save themselves. Only we can save them, with our wallets and our forks.

4. ANTI ANIMAL EXPLOITATION

Then there's the anti-circus theme in Dumbo, where again it's his poor mother who is beaten and terrorised so some humans can point and laugh at her baby. Yet people still happily go along to circuses and take their children to watch these poor, cruelly treated animals living a terrible life.

On why horses are best left able to run wild and free.

Whales and dolphins don't belong in captivity. I've been to sea world in the past but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't go again.

Not sure if anyone can think of any others? I was raised vegetarian so these films only cemented my beliefs but it made me very sad that others can eat animals and aren't bothered by their death and suffering.